New Zealand cricket team has to deal with an injury scar before even commencing their World Cup campaign as their skipper, Kane Williamson has confirmed that Tom Latham will miss the side’s two pre-tournament warm-up matches against India and West Indies. 

Latham sustained a finger injury during New Zealand’s practice game against Australia in Brisbane last week and he had to immediately leave the field to assess its condition. Scans have revealed that he has a small fracture on his left middle-finger which will take some time to heal.

During the captains’ combined press meet, Williamson said, “Tom won’t be available for the first two warm-up games. We are hoping he progresses nice and quickly and we will have to address it as the days go by.”

ALSO READ: Brett Lee Predicts Man Of The Tournament

However, there is still no clarity on whether Latham will be fit for New Zealand’s opening World Cup match on 1 June, when they will be locking horns with Sri Lanka in Cardiff. Should he not get fit in time, it will mean a debut for backup wicket-keeper Tom Blundell. 

Talking about the same, Black Caps bowling coach Shane Jurgensen said, “He’s going well, he’s improving all the time, He caught some tennis balls today, which is a really good start. Probably unlikely for the warm-up game, but he’s improving really well and each day. So we’ll take it as it comes and sees how it develops over the next week or so.”

Williamson also asserted that despite the fact that they haven’t played ODI since February 19 of this year, they are eagerly waiting for the tournament and carrying the confidence which will help them to win the games in the mega event.

ALSO READ: Root believes there are plenty of things to learn from Australia

The Kiwi skipper elaborated, “It’s been great get together for the last few days. We’ve not played together for a couple of months but we’re not the only ones in that boat. The guys are excited to be back in the camp which is really refreshing, and we’re looking forward to the challenges that we have got coming up.”